An American NGO worker has described the terrifying moment he dashed across Nairobi's Westgate Mall carrying his two-year-old daughter and hid in a storage room after hearing explosions and gunshots.

Pennsylvania-born Nick Handler, who is a field director for a farming non-profit, was sitting at a cafe in the mall with his daughter, Julia, when the deadly siege began on Saturday.

His wife Lyndsay, who is eight months pregnant with the couple's second child, was shopping on the floor below, leaving the family separated during the chaos.

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Survivors: Pennsylvania-born Nick Handler, right, who is a field director for a farming non-profit, survived the shooting with daughter, Julia, while his wife, Lyndsay, pictured escaped unharmed from a different floor of the mall

'All of a sudden I just heard a loud
explosion followed by a few gun shots and I just immediately just
grabbed (Julia) and luckily it was right by the door and we were able to
sprint out of the cafe and ran across the mall,' Handler told ABC News by phone on Monday.

The father and daughter initially followed other frightened mallgoers out a service exit towards the back of the mall before a wave of people came rushing back inside, apparently 'running away from some shooting out the front,' Handler said.

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Hugging Julia tight, Handler went back inside the mall and ended up hiding in an inventory room with about 40 other people while al Qaeda-linked gunmen massacred innocent mallgoers outside.

He said at one point it seemed the terrorists may have discovered their hiding spot as a group of people who had left the storage room suddenly started rushing back in, screaming.

'Aside from that initial explosion, this was probably the most terrifying moment,' Handler told ABC, 'not knowing if perhaps the people who had left had encountered some of the attackers who were then coming into the area that we were hiding.'

Ordeal: The father and daughter, pictured, hid in a storage room with about 40 other people while al Qaeda-linked gunmen massacred innocent mallgoers outside

Charity worker: Handler, pictured with a younger Julia, works for an NGO in Kenya

Julia spent the whole time pressed up against her dad's side.

'When we were running away from the initial explosion and then into hiding she was definitely freaked out but once we got settled down and we were just waiting the situation out she was incredibly brave,' he said.

Meanwhile,
Lyndsay, who left her husband and daughter to go get groceries just moments before the
first explosion, hid in a dark movie theater on the third floor of the
busy shopping mall. Eventually, she made it to the roof with another
group.

'That
was just the most terrifying thing for her, not being able to be with
us and having no idea what was happening,' Handler said.

Luckily, the couple were able to communicate on the phone.

Terrifying: A picture issued 23 September 2013 shows armed men checking a cafeteria inside the Westgate shopping mall after the shootout on Saturday. It's not clear if this is the cafe where Mr Handler was sitting